AACRAO member Keir McIsaac, International Student Recruitment Officer at Memorial University of Newfoundland, was awarded a $500 scholarship to help defray the cost of the SEM Endorsement Program. He’s the first recipient of the program’s new scholarship, and the first enrollee from Newfoundland.
“I chose AACRAO’s program for a number of reasons,” McIsaac said. “As I look to prepare for the next stages of my career, I want professional development to go along with that.”
McIsaac has already completed his masters in Higher Education Administration and Leadership, and wasn’t necessarily looking for something tied to a degree program, though he did seek something more robust than an individual course. When a web search lead him to AACRAO SEM-EP, he said, it seemed like a good fit.
“We are thrilled to welcome McIsaac to the Endorsement Program and to support him with a partial scholarship to make this credential possible for him,” said Christopher W. Tremblay, Ed.D., director of the SEM Endorsement Program. “We are looking forward to his contributions and his professional development.”
McIsaac particularly looks forward to the field visits component of the program, which is otherwise substantially completed online.
“I think in terms of my own learning style I’ve always benefited from real-world experiences,” McIsaac said. “But when working full time, it’s not always possible to draw myself away from work to participate in educational programs. Field visits will be like being able to meet and interact with students in my master’s cohort, and I’ll get to know other SEM professionals as well.”
McIsaac hasn’t settled on his SEM-EP capstone project yet but is considering research on working with international agents.
Due to institutional budget constraints, McIsaac’s enrollment is self-funded, so the scholarship makes a “huge difference” for him, he said. His enrollment will begin next month starting with the Essentials of SEM online course.